Charles Martel and Pippin 121 oxherd for charioteer. In this manner he proceeded to the palace, and to the public assemblies of the people held every year for the dispatch of the business of the kingdom, and he returned home again in the same sort of state. The admin- istration of the kingdom, and every matter which had to be undertaken and carried through, both at home and abroad, was managed by the mayor of the palace. In the year of the Incarnation of our Lord, 750, 1 Pippin sent ambassadors to Pope Zacharias to ask his opinion in the matter of the kings of the Franks, who, though of the royal line, and called kings, enjoyed in truth no power in the realm except that official documents were issued in their name. Otherwise they were destitute of power, and did only what the mayor of the palace told them. Only upon the day when the people, according to ancient usage, were wont to bring gifts to their sovereign on the March Field, did the king, surrounded by the army, sit in his chair, the mayor of the palace standing before him, and proclaim such laws as had been established by the Franks. The next day he returned home, and stayed there during the remainder of the year. Pope Zacharias, therefore, in virtue of apostolic authority, told the ambassadors that he judged it better and more advantageous that he should be king and be called king who had the power rather than he who was falsely called king. The said pontiff accordingly enjoined the king and the people of the Franks that Pippin, who already exercised the regal power, should be called king and raised to the throne. And this was done by St. Boniface, the archbishop, who anointed him king in the city of Soissons. And so it came about that Pippin was called king, while Childeric, falsely called king, was shaven and sent to the monastery. 50. Pope Zacharius authorizes the corona- tion of Pippin. (From The Lesser Annals of Lorsch.) 1 It appears from other sources that it was in 752 not 750 that Pippin received the kingly crown from the hand of Boniface.
